Teacher Retirement System of Texas Reduces Position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 51.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,965 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 21,914 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Range Resources were worth $754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Amundi raised its position in Range Resources by 233.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,180,913 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $44,308,000 after purchasing an additional 826,530 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Range Resources by 61.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $48,588,000 after purchasing an additional 604,199 shares during the period. Telemark Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Range Resources in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,392,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the third quarter worth about $11,508,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,976,052 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $287,078,000 after buying an additional 371,777 shares during the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on RRC shares. Citigroup downgraded Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on Range Resources from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Range Resources in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Range Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.89.

Range Resources Stock Performance

NYSE RRC opened at $39.19 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $38.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.22. The company has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. Range Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $27.29 and a 1-year high of $41.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $676.53 million. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. This is a boost from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Range Resources’s payout ratio is presently 32.73%.

Range Resources Company Profile

Range Resources Corporation operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and condensate company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and crude oil properties located in the Appalachian region. It sells natural gas to utilities, marketing and midstream companies, and industrial users; NGLs to petrochemical end users, marketers/traders, and natural gas processors; and oil and condensate to crude oil processors, transporters, and refining and marketing companies.